In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds, searching the cliffs in Israel along the Dead Sea for a stray goat or possibly for treasure, found a cave containing jars filled with manuscripts.

The shepherds removed seven scrolls that led to the discovery of several more scrolls and thousands of fragments from the surrounding area, called the Qumran ruin. Archaeologists and other researchers determined that the scrolls were ancient and authentic.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls are the most outstanding archaeological discovery of the 20th century," according to Adolfo Roitman, an expert who will present a lecture at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Roitman is curator of the Shrine of the Book, which contains the Dead Sea Scroll collection and other ancient manuscripts at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The topic of his lecture is "From Serpent to Satan: The Story of Paradise in Literature and Art."

Friday, January 27, 2006

STILL MORE LOST BOOKS: Robert A. Kraft's website has endless goodies. I've just run across a couple that deal with ancient lost parabiblical books. First is a page associated with course he taught in 2002-03 on parabiblical literature. It consists of a critical evaluation of material found in:

RIO PUERCO — Concealed within a small valley at Hidden Mountain is a 15-square-foot piece of basalt. The surface is carved with 216 characters that resemble Phoenician or old Hebrew. Translations have postulated buried treasure, a battle description and a exiled Greek named Zakyneros from 500 B.C.

“I believe someone decided to write down the Ten Commandments , but the question is who and when,” said Richard Melzer, a professor at The University of New Mexico-Valencia branch.

[...]

In 1949, Professor Robert Pheiffer, of the Harvard Semitic Museum, translated the writing on the stone and concluded that the text is Paleo-Hebrew and is based on Exodus 20:2-17.

[...]

Like Melzer, UNM history professor Ferenc Szasz believes this to be the correct translation, he also has a theory on who the mysterious author might be. “I think it’s old, but not pre-Columbian , more likely from the 18th century,” Szasz said Near the large rock are the initials A.M. the same initials are also present at Inscription Rock at El Morro near Grants. The initials are attributed to Andres Muñiz , chief interpreter of the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante Expedition.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON JUDAS: On 12 January the Times of London published an article (scroll down) that claimed that there was a "campaign led by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science ... aimed at persuading believers to look kindly" on Judas. But on the 20th I linked to a Zenit article that quoted Monsignor Brandmüller to say:

Reading the Times I discovered that a campaign exists to rehabilitate Judas and that I am the leader," the Vatican official said. "I have not talked with the Times. I can't imagine where this idea came from.

The original Zenit link seems now to be dead, but you can read the article here.

Since the 20th I have been monitoring both Google and the Times website and, although a number of other media outlets including Reuters, have picked up the Vatican's repudiation of the Times story, the Times itself (at least if its dodgy search engine is accurate) has ignored it entirely. What is going on here? If the Times has misrepresented Monsignor Brandmüller's position, it owes him a retraction and an apology. In any case, it owes its readers an explanation.

Is this another example of the professional media's much vaunted system of fact-checkers and editors? I can't say I'm impressed. The original Timesarticle is still online. If they had the standards of a decent blogger, they would have added an update at the end of it as soon as the Zenit piece came out, linking to it and explaining the discrepancy.

Mo'ed - Annual for Jewish Studies, is now accepting papers for Vol. 17, to appear in March-April 2007. Mo'ed is a peer-reviewed annual devoted to all branches and periods of Jewish Studies, and welcomes original contributions in these fields. Articles may be submitted for publication either in Hebrew or in English. Hebrew articles are to include an English abstract and English articles are to include a Hebrew abstract of 200-300 words. Articles are to be typed using a Word for Windows-compatible word processor and should be submitted in two hard copies accompanied by a diskette. Electronic transmission as an e-mail attachment is an acceptable alternative, but it is recommended to submit hard copies and diskette as well. Bibliographical references and other notes are to be typed as footnotes. For all other matters of style and usage - spelling and punctuation, use of numbers, emphases, abbreviations, citation of texts and bibliographical references, contributors are referred to the Guidelines for Contributors appearing (in both Hebrew and English) in Mo'ed 15 (2005), or to Tarbiz 51 (1982), pp.167-169. The final date for submission of articles to Vol. 16 [I think this is supposed to be "Mo'ed 17" - JRD] is 30 September 2006. Articles are to be submitted to:Dr. Arie DonorDr, Jonathan D. SafrenEditorsMo'ed - Annual for Jewish StudiesCenter for Jewish CultureBeit Berl CollegeBeit Berl Post Office44905 Israele-mail: moed@beitberl.ac.ilwebsite: www.beitberl.ac.il/moed

For some of the contents for Moed 16, follow the link to the announcement above.

For decades, English-speaking rabbis have been employing innovative academic, literary and theological approaches to produce fresh commentaries on the Bible that would resonate with their modern-day congregants. But as the yearly Torah cycle reached the book of Exodus this month, Rabbi Michael Holzman tried out what qualifies these days as a more radical approach: He is directing his Reform students to an all-medieval lineup of Judaism's most revered biblical commentators.

At a class held last week at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, a Reform synagogue in Philadelphia, Holzman — along with Orthodox and Reconstructionist colleagues — introduced 100 students to "The Commentators' Bible," an annotated edition of Exodus released last September by the Jewish Publication Society. The new commentary relies predominantly on four medieval rabbis — Rashi, Rashbam, Ibn Ezra and Nachmanides — who generally wrote from what typically would be described today as an Orthodox perspective. Among their assumptions is the belief that the Torah was a unified document revealed by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Additional commentary from a half-dozen other medieval scholars, including Abarbanel and Sforno, is also included.

[...]

According to [Arielle] Levites, [a JPS spokesperson,] JPS would like to follow up the new commentary on Exodus with similar works dedicated to the four other books of the Torah. She said that JPS and Carasik opted to do Exodus first, because tackling Genesis, which has more associated commentary, would have been a tougher opening act. In addition, she said, Exodus contains a representative sampling of the Torah's various literary styles, including narrative and legal portions.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

ANOTHER COSMIC SYNCHRONICITY: David Meadows points out that today is both Robbie Burns Day and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Well, I guess it's cosmic if you're in Scotland. I'll be going to a belated Burns Night supper a week from Saturday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access to the Internet's fastest-growing market.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a version of its search engine bearing China's Web suffix, .cn, today. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the United States.

[...]

To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that the country's government found objectionable.

Although China has loosened some of its controls in recent years, certain topics, such as Taiwan's independence and 1989's Tiananmen Square massacre, remain forbidden subjects.

[...]

When Google censors results in China, it intends to post notifications alerting users that some content has been removed to comply with local laws. The company provides similar alerts in Germany and France when, to comply with national laws, it censors results to remove references to Nazi paraphernalia.

That's right: Google is treating websites on the Tianamen Square massacre the same as Nazi propaganda.

I note that PaleoJudaica is already banned in China, perhaps because I poked fun at the Chinese Government for censoring Lara Croft.

I accept that Google is -- so far -- being less evil than Yahoo or Microsoft, but this still won't do. And I don't buy the arguments (noted, but not accepted here) that they may as well do it, since the Chinese Government will do it anyway, or that what Google is doing for China is morally equivalent to banning Nazi websites for Germany and France. (If I had my way, even those would not be banned unless they contained specific incitements to criminal acts -- not just criminal thoughts. But I acknowledge that Germany and France have historical considerations that lead them to take another view. In any case, this is still not comparable to censoring Tianamen Square.)

Bottom line: unless Google's policy changes, I will no longer click on any Google sponsored links or Google ads. I urge you not to either. And if you run Google ads, I encourage you to take them down.

SORCERY כשפים: I'm not sure why, but Israel Today has an article on sorcery and magic in ancient Judaism and the New Testament:

SORCERY כשפיםSorcery, in Hebrew keshafim and Biblical Hebrew nachash (Numbers 23:23), is the same as magic or the “black arts.” Using sorcery, people try to control or dominate nature through all kinds of customs, ceremonies and sacrifices, and then use it for their own purposes. Along with the acquisition of power, belief in spirits plays the most important role in sorcery.

Statesman News ServiceBHUBANESWAR, Jan. 24. — People of the state had the opportunity to have a glimpse of a few best known and most interesting archaeological sites of Israel through a photo exhibition titled as “ Israel: Archaeology from the Air”.The exhibition, organised by the Embassy of Israel in collaboration with the state museum, was inaugurated by the ambassador of Israel to India, Mr David Danieli and state’s culture minister Dr Damodar Rout here today. It will be opened to public till 10 February, said the organisers.

[...]

Photos of 25 selected archaeological sites shot from the air were on display. The sites on display included the citadel of Jerusalem, the biblical city of King David etc. It may be noted that Israel has the highest density of known archaeological sites per square kilometre. The land is the birth place of two of the greatest monotheistic faiths of the world — Judaism and Christianity.

In an unprecedented move, Israel's top archaeological body is recommending that the Megiddo Prison be relocated due to the recent discovery of the most ancient Christian place of worship ever found in Israel on the grounds of the prison.

The ruins of the Christian prayer hall, which was located inside a Roman villa, date back to the first half of the third century CE, making the chapel the earliest place of Christian worship ever unearthed in the Holy Land, excavation director and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Yotam Tepper said Tuesday.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

BLOG OF THE MONTH: PaleoJudaica is the blog of the month over at Biblioblogs.com and I am interviewed there by Brandon Wason. In the interview you'll read something about me that you probably don't already know.

International conference to be focused on the important second-century Christian figure, Justin Martyr20-22 July 2006University of Edinburgh

The first international conference to be focused on the important second-century Christian figure, Justin Martyr, will be held 20-22 July 2006 in Edinburgh, sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins. The aim is to bring together scholars across disiplinary lines, e.g., New Testament/Christian Origins, early Patristics, Roman history, and ancient Philosophy, with the crucial figure Justin Martyr as the focus. Key questions to be explored include these: Justin and the Gospels, Justin and Early Christian Apologetics, Justin and Early Christian Interaction with its Intellectual/Philosophical Environment, Justin and Early Christian. Interaction with the State, Justin and Second-Century Doctrinal/Creedal Developments.

Subsidiary C:4-4.30: P. Scade (Exeter): The early history of the Timaeus4.30-5: A. Magny (Bristol): The "Blasphemous" Philosopher: Porphyry and the Remains of Against the Christians in the Christian Literature5-5.30: S. Klitenic Wear (Creighton): The Pseudo-Dionysian Trinity and the Porphyrian One

Subsidiary D:4-4.30: I. Sandwell (Bristol): Monotheism, Polytheism and the Basis of Religious Toleration in the Fourth century AD4.30-5: M. Kahlos (Helsinki): Refuting and reclaiming monotheism. Monotheism in the debate between 'pagans' and Christians in 380-4305-5.30: G. Sfameni Gasparro (Messina): One God and divine Unity. Late Antique theologies between exclusivism and inclusiveness

Subsidiary B:11-11.30: A. Fürst (Münster): Images of God and Concepts of Social and Political Order. The Controversy between Celsus and Origen about Pagan and Christian Monotheism11.30-12: M. Amerise (Perugia): One God, One Emperor. Monotheism and political theology in Eusebios of Caesarea.12-12.30: O. Nicholson (Minnesota): Licinius, 'pagan monotheism' and Lactantius On the Anger of God12.30-1: J. Schott (Charlotte, North Carolina): The Conversion and Apostasy of Pagan Monotheists: Representation and Reality

In November, the Chaldean liturgy underwent a reform following a special synod in Rome.

To assess the extent of the reform, ZENIT interviewed Monsignor Petrus Yousif, professor of Syro-Chaldean patrology and Chaldean liturgy at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Catholic Institute of Paris. He is also the parish priest of France's Chaldean community.

In this interview, Monsignor Yousif, consultor of the Special Liturgy Commission for the Oriental Churches, shares his insight into the Chaldean rite, which uses Aramaic.

[...]

I have to say that I doubt that the Aramaic of the liturgy is really "pronounced as Jesus pronounced it," i.e., in first-century Galilean Aramaic. But it's true that it's a dialect of the same language.

A modern and beautiful museum built according to European standards will be set up in the centre of Tbilisi soon, according to a decree signed by President Saakashvili at the Korneli Kekelidze State Institute of Manuscripts on Friday.

Saakashvili visited the manuscript institute and publicly called for an improvement of the institute's facilities and resources. To this end, the President has proposed building a new branch of the institute in the city centre.

[...]

The construction of the museum building will start in a year's time and it will be equipped with all the technology and apparatuses needed for keeping and displaying manuscripts and carrying out scientific research.

The collection contains approximately 10,000 Georgian manuscripts, 60,000 Georgian historical documents, 4,000 manuscripts in Greek, Hebrew, Syrian, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Slavic languages, while 5,000 historical documents in these languages are preserved. 20,000 documents in different languages from the personal archives of distinguished Caucasian writers and scientists of the 19th and 20th centuries are also held in the museum.

[...]

Sounds like a good place to look for more Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

At the end of January, the Temple Mount will be sawed into pieces and carted away. Not the real Temple Mount, of course, but its miniature model on the hillside next to the Holyland Hotel in southeast Jerusalem. The mountain and the temple compound built by King Herod are part of a model of Jerusalem in 66 C.E., on the eve of the revolt against the Romans that ended in the destruction of the city.

For almost 40 years, the miniature city sat proudly in the garden surrounding it, but the desire of the site's owners to build a residential tower led them to seek and finance the model's transfer to an alternative location. The institution chosen to host the model is the Israel Museum, which has prepared a terraced field beside the Shrine of the Book to accommodate the model.

GNOSTIC REVIVAL? Traditions about the sacred feminine in the Nag Hammadi Library have considerable appeal to some women in mainstream Christian denominations. Here's some evidence in the Dallas Morning News:

CONNECTIONSMost scholars call Christianity a patriarchal religion: Jesus was a man, and God is typically called "he." But others argue that, after a careful reading of Christian history, that's only half the picture.

An upcoming lecture series will give participants a closer look at this other side of Christian spirituality. "The Feminine Face of God in Christianity" begins Sunday at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

"Because of the ways in which our Christian tradition developed, one stream was emphasized, and of course it's all masculine imagery," said Rosalind de Rolon, a member of the church who organized the series. Organizers say the five-week program integrates "fine art, music, distinguished theological scholarship and participants' own epiphanies."

Ms. de Rolon will deliver the opening lecture with a look at "the ancient wisdom tradition's concept of feminine and masculine, the organizing principles of the universe." She draws from scholars such as Huston Smith and Marcus Borg as well as the Old and New Testaments and the Gnostic gospels.

[...]

One lecture will present an "inclusive liturgy honoring Christ-Sophia." Another will look at Mary Magdalene in the light of "Gnostic texts and Carl Jung's Collected Works."

MORE ON THE LOOTING of the Hebrew archives in the French National Library: This case has been quiet for a while, but it figures in this Observer (i.e., Sunday Guardian) piece on the larger problem of looted antiquities in the hands of collectors and museums.

A series of legal actions has been launched by European governments to regain priceless works of art which they claim have been illegally smuggled to America to be sold off to wealthy collectors and museums.

One of the highest profile cases is in France, where what has been dubbed 'The Affair of the Hebrew Manuscripts' is reaching its climax. The case centres on Michel Garel, a specialist in ancient documents at the National Library in Paris, who is alleged to have systematically pillaged medieval religious texts to satisfy a demand from America. One manuscript, a 600-year-old French Hebrew version of the biblical books of the Pentateuch, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and the Lessons of the Prophets, has been traced to a New York collector who bought it for £200,000 at Christie's. Garel, who maintains his innocence, is to appear before a French court on theft charges.

Agnes Saal, the library's director, said: 'The National Library is motivated by a strong desire to recover this manuscript so that it can once more take its place as part of the national heritage.'